Are you creative and looking to make some money? Creative Graphic Design has just set up a new program by which you can win anywhere from $100 to $1000 or more in its design contests. Categories of contests include graphic design, logos, photo editing, power point creation, website design and more. In fact Creative Graphic design is running a contest to create its slogan for which the prize money is $300.

The program is still in beta and working out the bugs. In fact, according to its blog, its offering cash incentives to help identify the bugs so they can be fixed asap. The Creative.gd blog is also a good resource to keep up-to-date on what’s been fixed, what’s planned, and other news related to the site.

One of the best features is that the service is free for designers. You can browse the contest to find ones in your area of expertise. You can also see how much time is left on the contest and how many other submissions there are. You can even see what those other submissions are. Because the prize money is paid in advance by the contest holder and held in an escrow account, you can be sure you’ll be paid if your design is chosen.

The site offers benefits for small and home business owners who are in need of graphic design work, but don’t have a huge budget and/or want to see a variety of options. The advantage of working with an organization like Create Graphic Designs is that your money (what you offer for a prize) is put in an escrow account. The designers know they’ll be paid because you’ve paid the money, but you’ll know that your money won’t be wasted because you’ll need to approve the work before the designer is paid.

What do jelly beans and telecommuting have in common? Actually I’m not sure, but an interesting article at Workforce Management reports on a new collaborative work environment called “jellies”. The term jellies was taken from jelly bean, “We figured that a big part of Jelly was the collaboration and co-creation with people of varied skill sets and backgrounds.”

Jellies have been a resource for entrepreneurs and freelancers to gather and work on ideas, but recently telecommuters have been joining jelly groups. The advantage of jellies appears to be the ability to share ideas, brainstorm, build networks, and get out of the house.

According the article, Yahoo has gotten in on the jelly phenomena by taking the events national, allowing its telecommuters to attend jelly meetings and by supplying speakers to jelly events.

To find a jelly near you (its worldwide) or to learn how to start your own jelly group, visit WorkAtJelly.com . (Visit the main site here)

Now that my kids are in school, some people ask when I plan to return to work.

Huh? I work at home I remind them. But I can see in their eyes, they don’t think it’s “real” work. Nevermind that I telecommute in a job that builds families (adoption work) or that my work-at-home experience landed me a book deal.

Some people think that if you don’t get up, get dressed and commute to an office, its not real work. But I think that people who do that are are missing some really important benefits that come with working at home. Here are my top 10 reasons why everyone should work from home.

1) Its cheaper than going to an office. For many years I earned less working from home, but had more money!

2) There are tax advantages.

3) You don’t have to wear pantyhose or a tie.

4) You can work where you want often when you want.

5) You can more easily avoid office conflicts.

6) You can get more done in less time thereby working less hours.

7) You can listen to any music you want to, not just what is piped in.

You can sleep when you’d normally be commuting.

9) You can take a nap during the day.

10)  You can do the work that brings you joy, nurtures or spirit, or at least pays you what you’re worth!

I’ve been posting work-at-home jobs online since 1998. Over the years I’ve seen work-at-home and general job databases come and go. Some are still around, but just aren’t as good anymore. I do try to keep up-to-date, but its difficult to keep up with them all.

Recently I started getting some complaints about GoFreelance (Freelance Work Exchange). Because my credibility is on the line, I had to check it out. When I first tested the database, it was a solid, albeit expensive work-at-home job database. The cost is still $2.95 for a trial membership and $39.95 per month after that.

Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I visited yesterday. The cost is the same, but there are just a handful of jobs. I know of free work-at-home job websites with more work-at-home jobs posted! Below the job listings were other work-at-home options that weren’t jobs, but ads or affiliate links to other work-at-home programs. This isn’t bad necessarily, but why charge to access a nearly non-existant job database to then be sold other work-at-home programs?

I’m disapointed and I’ll admit its partly because GoFreelance has a very good affiliate program. However, I cannot in good conscience continue to promote it. I’m also upset because removing the link from my website pages will be a long and tedious task.